Factors related to children's caries: a structural equation modeling approach.

Rong Min Qiu,Huan Cai Lin,Edward Cm Lo,Qing Hui Zhi,Yan Zhou,Ye Tao

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1071

Abstract

BackgroundDental caries among preschool children is highly prevalent in many less-developed countries.MethodsA model which explored the factors related to children’s dental caries was tested in this study using structural equation modeling. Caregivers of children aged 5 years were surveyed on their socioeconomic status, and their oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices. In addition, information on their children’s oral health practices, dental insurance and dental service utilization were collected. Examination of caries was conducted on all children who returned fully completed questionnaires.ResultsThe results showed that socioeconomic factors influenced children’s oral health practices through the impact of caregivers’ oral health knowledge and practices; that caregivers’ oral health knowledge affected children’s oral health practices through the influence of caregivers’ oral health attitudes and practices; and finally, that children’s oral health practices were linked directly to their caries.ConclusionThe findings have important applications for promoting policies aimed at advancing children’s oral health.

Highlights

Dental caries among preschool children is highly prevalent in many less-developed countries
It was shown that children’s dental visit history was positively associated with children’s caries status, which indicated that children with prior dental visit were likely to have more dental caries
The findings indicated that the factors influencing dental caries in 5-year-old Chinese children in Guangzhou and the interrelationship between these factors could be explained by the model

Summary

Introduction

Dental caries among preschool children is highly prevalent in many less-developed countries. For the development of effective prevention strategies, it is important to find out the risk factors for children’s dental caries. A complex model that simultaneously evaluated the multidimensional behavioral pathways that led to ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in oral health was tested in Singaporean preschool children aged 3–6 years through structural equation modeling (SEM) [7]. Such a complex model has not been tested in Chinese preschool children

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion